With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

Taiwan revises history textbook to show it's not part of China

TAIPEI -- Taiwan has revised its high-school history textbook to show that Taiwan is an independent country, not part of China, a newspaper reported Monday.

The China Times said that under the order of the Education Ministry, the title of the national history textbook for high school to be used after the winter vacation has been changed from 'National History' to 'China History.'

In this textbook, terms like 'our country,' 'this country' and 'the mainland' have been changed to 'China' to indicate Taiwan is not part of China, the daily said.

To distance itself from China, the textbook now uses neutral words to describe events in China's history, like describing the 1911 Wuhan Uprising that toppled the Manchu Dynasty as chishi (riot) instead of chiyi (justified uprising).

Another change is that the new textbook has condensed ancient Chinese history but included a part on Taiwan-China separation.
Read entire article at DPA (German Press Agency)